From first being considered property to not being a whole person in the voting booth to not being allowed full access to public restrooms or public transportation or even military service, the Black American experience is not like any other American's. It's not been a matter of a glass ceiling, but rather the open, blatant, officially sanctioned "Whites only" "No Negroes Allowed" discrimination that the 1960s finally ended.
So, while no black man or woman living today was a slave, almost all have known an America, either personally or through their parents, that did not consider them as being created equal. And, for many, no number of Oprahs or Robert Johnsons or any other successful black Americans are going to remove those experiences from memory.
Nor will a President Obama, but voting for him will be a step forward that few blacks thought they would ever take. It's just too bad that it is Obama instead of someone whose principles, values, beliefs and character would move us all forward, regardless of skin color.
President Obama will worsen the racial divide. He just may have what it takes to become president, but not what it takes to lead the country.
Your comments are correct - with one exception. The “War on Poverty” forever connected the belief of victimization with compensation from the treasury. Thus, entitlement socialism was founded, which will always link blacks voting in the direction of victim compensation. In many ways, and $7.2 trillion later, blacks have devolved from their culture of the 1950’s. Until the connection between money and victimization is broken, blacks will gleefully remain on the plantation that feeds them.
Only because he is BLACK when he wants to be! Can 99% of Americans vote for a black man - a resounding YES! Can about half of Americans NOT vote for this black man - also YES! It has absolutely nothing to do with color. As the posts says, he has no principles, values, beliefs or character that will move this country forward.
He is only BLACK!
You are absolutely correct. There are many Americans who remember sitting at the back of the bus, or treated as second class citizens. And the stories that have passed down to their children are still very real to them. Even if no one in my generation has ever experienced that, they have through the pain of their parents.
But Barack isn’t the answer for them personally. Other than to wash out perceptions. The reality will be much worse and I don’t think anyone understands that.
And none of them seem to understand Barack himself doesn’t come with those experiences either. Nor did his father. So if they are looking to him for sympathy, he can’t offer it. Sure he might have had some negative experiences in his lifetime, heck weren’t we all teased at some point for something? An d his wife is bitter enough for the both of them, but he did not experience the Civil Rights Movement. So how is he the one to correct the wrongs inflicted on black americans?
From first being considered property to not being a whole person in the voting booth to not being allowed full access to public restrooms or public transportation or even military service, the Black American experience is not like any other American's. It's not been a matter of a glass ceiling, but rather the open, blatant, officially sanctioned "Whites only" "No Negroes Allowed" discrimination that the 1960s finally ended.
So, while no black man or woman living today was a slave, almost all have known an America, either personally or through their parents, that did not consider them as being created equal. And, for many, no number of Oprahs or Robert Johnsons or any other successful black Americans are going to remove those experiences from memory.
I agree with all of this. In my own bitterness and resentment against the political alliances of contemporary Blacks it is so easy for me to forget how recently it was that life was a nightmare for so many Black Americans. In fact, Jim Crow was actually worse than slavery. No one hates his property. Teh slaveowners did not hate their Black slaves. As demeaning as it is to think of human beings as property, property is at least cherished and taken care of to an extent. After the Civil War and Reconstruciton, however, Blacks found themselves with all the negatives of slavery with none of the few positives. Blacks were not only worked like slaves but hated and resented as the cause of the war. The brutality of post-slavery "freedom" was actually greater than slavery itself had been. Plus it was after Emancipation that the familiar alliance of rich and poor whites based on nothing but skin color developed (during slavery itself the masters played the slaves and poor whites off against each other; afterwards there was nothing but an unbroken white united front).
But the change from this situation to legal equality is not the only change Blacks have undergone in recent decades. They have gone from being religious fundamentalists (and regularly ridiculed as such as old films and broadcasts amply demonstrate) to a community identified with radical secularism--people with a fundamentalist worship style but whose public spokesmen and politicians are almost to a one secular humanist extremists regardless of their religious affiliation (Cynthia McKinney is Roman Catholic). Liberal anti-chr*stians consider them victims rather than practitioners of chr*stianity and thus exempt them from all the withering scorn they poor on poor fundamentalist whites (certainly no liberal accuses them of "clinging to religion" because of "bitterness"). And creationism and Biblical literalism are somehow branded an exclusively white, racist phenomenon (which is easy to understand considering the shameful number of people who are both creationist and racist and the utter silence of the Black church on the issue).
And finally Blacks have gone from being the "least alien but most alienated" of all America's "minority" groups to the most alien. They are considered more alien and more anti-Western than people who have just slipped into the country from some other dimension via the Bermuda Triangle--not just by the "V-Dare.com" people, but by their "friends" on the Left. They are considered (and in many cases are) less patriotic and more anti-American than immigrants. They are the most resented by the "majority" because they are the biggest "trouble-makers," despite the fact that alone among almost all other ethnic groups they have lived side by side with that majority for almost four hundred years. And the patriotism for America they have come to reject has been replaced with an almost national-socialist patriotism for "the race" and for "holy mother Africa" ("we invented civilization!") which is promoted by leftwingers who otherwise claim to be opposed to nationalism and patriotism of every type. (The Left owes the right-wing extremist Marcus Garvey an apology; when he was alive they hated and villified him, but after his death they stole his program.)
One of the most maddening things to me is how the Black community has said absolutely nothing about the distortion of affirmative action (other than to support it). Affirmative action as originally conceived recognized that the Black experience in America was unique. No other people had been imported as a "slave race" (the Indian experience of being wiped out by conquerors is far from unique). Yet now affirmative action applies to wealthy white homosexuals, white women, Hispanics whose ancestors were never slaves in this country--everyone other than "straight white males." The experiences of all these other groups, which have been nothing like that of Blacks, has been declared identical to the Black experience and now they are entitled to the exact same form of retroactive social justice. The utter silence of Black leadership to this situation--in fact, their support of it--is one of their greatest shames.
I am among those whose resentment of the inequality of treatment liberals give to poor Blacks and poor whites and the political quasi-alliances that Blacks acquiesce to sometimes leads him to say stupid things. For that I am sorry. I am also among those to whom Blacks (thanks to liberal worship of them) seem very powerful (I'm sure to liberals that sounds strange, but liberals seem to think that being worshiped by elites in media and academia doesn't qualify as "power" while living in a trailer park does). If Blacks can destroy the lives of anyone they don't like why don't they at least ever destroy the lives of people who deserve it? If Blacks can snap their fingers and banish the "n-word" from public discourse why don't they use that same power to banish vulgarity and obscenity? And however bitter I am I must admit that I do believe that poor Blacks are more powerful that poor whites merely because of their powerful friends. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see how I am.
Thank you for your very thoughtful post, GBA. It would behove us all, especially on the Fourth of July and with a possible racial civil war looming, to think about these things.
Dear Julia -
Interesting story today. Did you know that folks across the country are trying to get Alan Keyes on the ballot in their state as a choice for president in November? The fact that he's black has nothing to do with the reasons that I support him -- and these reasons include Dr. Keyes' pro-life perspective. It seems remiss for an article to discuss the issues yours does without mentioning that the man widely considered to be the most eloquent pro-life advocate in the USA happens to be a black man and also happens to be an independent candidate for president.
Alan Keyes is already on the ballot in Colorado. This weekend, we will find out if he gets on the California ballot, via the nomination of the American Independent Party (AIP). AIP switched its national party affiliation a few days ago, joining a new party being formed by Keyes supporters. The new national party is called America's Independent Party. With the affiliation of the California party, the new party immediately becomes the third largest national political party as measured by number of registered voters. That's right, the over 300,000 voters registered with AIP in California is more than the total registered nationwide in any of the other national Third Parties, like Libertarian and whatnot.
Here in Maryland, I and others are petitioning to get a new party officially recognized by the state. We need 10,000 signatures by August 4 to get on the November ballot. Our party here is called Maryland Independent Party, and we welcome all of good will who agree with the signers of the Declaration of Independence that all of us are created equal,and are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I think the effort to get Alan Keyes on the ballot would be a great follow-up story, and could help change history. Are you up for that? If so, please go for it!
Best wishes,
MARYLAND INDEPENDENT PARTY
Steve Schulin,
Candidate for Congress - Maryland's 4th District
--- END OF LETTER TO REPORTER ---
Dear fellow FRreepers. In this age of mass communication, it is as easy to win over tens of millions of voters as it is to win ten voters. The notion that folks who think Obama would be a disaster have only one choice is a defeatist lie. Each and every one of you, dear FReepers, might make the difference between a disastrous national choice and a great choice. If you want to preserve the blessings of liberty for yourself and your posterity, I hope you'll consider getting involved in the Keyes campaign now. Ballot access deadlines are fast approaching in many states. Go to http://www.selfgovernment.us for more info.